Careless Talk, by Diana Rider

“Careless Talk” is a short, choice-based work about a soldier’s attempt to hide his homosexuality in a military that has prohibited it.

Gameplay: The game consists of a series of conversations and memories involving the narrator. The setting and characters aren’t developed enough to explain the stakes in the game or his relationship with the characters he meets. The game is about morality and trust, but there isn’t enough detail in the game to draw any conclusions about them. 3/10.

Mechanics: There’s little interactivity in the game; the alternatives at each decision point are similar, and none of them have any significant influence on the plot. This story might have worked better as a piece of conventional, non-interactive fantasy or science fiction. The one departure from the standard choice-based format is the cliché of a decision point with four ostensible alternatives, all but one of which the narrator refuses to act on when selected. 3/10.

Presentation: The protagonist is two-dimensional, although there are a few NPCs who have stronger characterization. The setting appears to be a version of Britain, possibly in the future, with magic. Few details are given; it’s never indicated how magic works, how commonplace it is, how commonplace magicians are, etc. It’s not necessary to describe the details of the setting for a story that’s based more on characters and morality than plot, but those details are given here; they’re just not explained, and the overall effect is just confusing. The theme of the story would have worked just as well if it were set in historical Britain. 2/10.

You might be interested in this game if: You’d like to see what the British navy would look like in a universe with magic.